subject: Reverse baldness with Propecia and regrow hair [print this page] Reverse baldness with Propecia and regrow hair
Can you tell what Wayne Rooney the English soccer prodigy, Sean Connery the veteran actor, and Dalai Lama the 14th the noted spiritual guru have in common? In case you are thinking that this is a real tricky one, the answer is very simple: they are all bald. Their baldness is known as male pattern baldness a form of hair loss which millions of men throughout the world experience at some point during their life. Baldness can occur in your late teens or early twenties, or your scalp can go shiny when you are in your 40s or 50s. But right treatment at the right time can prevent hair fall and can also stimulate hair regrowth. That is a good news, isn't it?
Knowing male pattern baldness
At any given moment, human head contains approximately 100,000 to 150,000 strands of hair and about 100 of them come off everyday. The average growth cycle of a hair is about 2-6 years, after which it falls off on its own and a new hair replaces it. Each strand of hair is rooted in a follicle. With male pattern baldness, the hair follicles become genetically sensitive to an androgenic hormone known as dihydrotestosterone (DHT). When that happens, hair starts to fall off in a specific pattern and what's worse, nothing ever comes out of the dead follicles.
Keeping the follicles alive
To stop hair loss and more importantly, to trigger hair regrowth, it is important to keep the hair follicles alive. Propecia, a FDA-approved prescription medicine, can help you do so. Its active ingredient finasteride desensitises the hair follicles to DHT. This hormone causes hair loss by shrinking the hair follicles. A shrunk hair follicles makes it difficult for the corresponding hair to come out of it, which leads to hair fall. What finasteride does is it reduces the amount of DHT and prevents the follicles from contracting.
Recognising the pattern
In male pattern baldness, hairline first starts to recede, exposing the anterior part of the head. Then hair disappears from a small area on top of the crown. Receding of the hairline continues to occur simultaneously with disappearance of hair from the vertex. Finally, the receding hairline meets the hairless region at the top, causing a bald head with very thin covering of hair on either side.
Genetic factors
Apart from the hormonal influence, male pattern baldness is also related to genetic factors. Although experts are yet to determine its exact causes, they assume that a particular gene variation causes this type of hair loss in men.
Propecia for prevention and regrowth
Finasteride can both prevent and reverse pattern hair loss in men. It has been proved effective in preventing baldness in 99% men who use it, while it can actually reverse hair loss in two-third of them. So with the medicine, you can recover some of your lost hair. You should take the medicine only when you are advised by your doctor to do so. Its dosing schedule can vary from one man to another, but it takes about 3 months to notice positive results.
Other treatments
In case you are allergic to finasteride or any other ingredient of Propecia, you should not take the medicine. Under such circumstances, you have other options to take care of your balding head. Hair transplantation can be a good choice if you willing to bear the expenses. Relatively safer approaches to fight the problem include hair weaving or change of hairstyle.
